Caring for the critically wounded in extreme environments requires accurate documentation of the nature of the injury and the treatment given to the person by the first responder or medic close to the point of injury. It is a challenge to quickly and efficiently record medical information about injured personnel in extreme environments such as battlefields, urban areas or disaster areas. Medical personnel need to be able to examine an injured person and quickly record all of the relevant medical information in a noisy and potentially dangerous environment. Such medical personal need to have their hands free when examining the injured person, and also need to be able to leave the medical information with the injured person and move quickly to the next injured person. Further, the recording device used to record the medical information needs to be hardened for the harsh environmental conditions associated with extreme environments.
There already exist computer-based data-entry medical recording systems for battle field use. Unfortunately, these systems are not widely used because of their relative complexity.
Thus, there is a need for a mobile medical information data system suitable for use in extreme environments that will allow medical personnel to quickly and efficiently record medical information about injured persons, and have the recorded information travel with the injured person, and then have the information processed at a care center or other location.